You can’t just bang your fists on the table. You have to bang them harder than everyone else. Such is the first law of investment punditry during a boom or bust. For example, few made more noise about the wonders of the technology boom in the late nineties than Abby Joseph Cohen of Goldman Sachs. As stocks soared higher, investors rushed to her rallying cry.

Every period of market madness, whether up or down, has its figureheads. Jim Rogers and Marc Faber led the charge on commodities earlier this decade, while David Lereah, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, was constantly on screens to expound the virtues of home ownership. During this crisis, economists and pundits have clambered over themselves to become the kings and queens of gloom. New York University’s Nouriel Roubini, for one, is already near-synonymous with the current meltdown.